VERMONT STATE EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION QUESTIONS TO CANDIDATES, including Cris Ericson for Governor,
on the Democratic Party primary election ballot Aug. 9, 2016.
https://www.sec.state.vt.us/media/757630/2016-statewide-primary-qualified-candidates.pdf
Cris Ericson’s responses below to VSEA.org Questions.
On Fri, 5/27/16, Susan DeVoid wrote:
Subject: VSEA Endorsement Process
To: “crisericson@yahoo.com”
Date: Friday, May 27, 2016, 11:26 AM
Ms. Ericson:
As per your request, please find the below questionnaire for the VSEA Endorsement Process. You may respond to my email address.
1. Should the work of State government be performed by State employees?
Cris Ericson:
YES!!!!!!!!! No more private for profit out-of-state prisons! No more Hewlett Packard running some of the billing on Vermont Health Connect; etc.
It is hurting the economy of Vermont to give our jobs away!
If I am elected Governor of Vermont, I will VETO any funding Bill that gives any Vermont taxpayer dollars away to any out-of-state entity. I will hire attorneys with experience in federal anti-trust laws to try to over-ride any and all attempts by the Vermont State Legislature to violate federal anti-trust laws in the use of taxpayer dollars. For each and every person the Governor is allowed to appoint and pay a salary to, I will try to fill these positions with contract fraud attorneys to stop the leaking of Vermont taxpayer dollars out of state. I will try to stop the spending of taxpayer dollars on any and all food products for school children that come from out of state, etc.
On the other hand, if I am elected to the United States Senate, and keep in mind I am also on the Democratic Party ballot for that office, I will work to amend, repeal, or alter federal anti-trust laws to suit Vermonters. Our main goal right now should be keeping money in Vermont. We should be 100% self-sufficient in the event of a crisis of any kind.
Look at it this way, if Vermonters paid NO federal taxes, and we kept all that money in-state, would we be self-sufficient?
I’m only asking this because I personally collected my ballot access petition signatures, and I personally spoke with 600 Vermont voters who signed each of my two petitions, and guess what? They are so incredibly disgusted with the Presidential election, that way too many of them said they are moving to Canada.
We’ve got to put a stop to that kind of thinking, and replace it with “what if?” How can we make Vermont stronger, and keep more money here?
People are generally totally and completely disgusted with politics. We have to keep Vermont taxpayer dollars at home.
2. As an elected official, how would you improve the overall safety of state employees?
Cris Ericson: Guess what, most Vermonters are thinking the opposite, how can they be kept safe from State employees?
How can they keep the State employees from stealing their children, from violating their property rights, and invading their homes? You really are all on the wrong end of this question.
I believe the United States Constitution is your gun permit, and that any and all state gun laws are Un-Constitutional. I believe you have the right to carry a gun openly or concealed.
Number one on my safety list is this problem: IBM is now owned by a foreign country, most people think of it as a corporation, but it is actually owned by a foreign country. IBM is close to the Burlington International Airport. The U.S. Air Force wants to base F-35 strike fighter jets adjacent to the civilian airport. The U.S. Air Force is withholding material facts: Isn’t it true that the F-35 strike fighter jets are designed to be dual capable to carry nuclear bombs, and won’t the nuclear bombs be stored adjacent to the civilian airport, and isn’t that too close for comfort to IBM which is now owned by a foreign country? This is my number one safety concern for Vermont: the Trojan Horse.
3. What is your plan to make the health care system more fair and equitable for working Vermonters?
Cris Ericson: First of all, keep in mind that I am also on the ballot for U.S. Senator. Your taxpayer dollars go into
the Treasury for just a moment while the folks over at the U.S. Congress vote to send Billions$$$ of them to the N.I.H., National Institute of Health, which gives the Billions$$$ to the Pharmaceutical Coporations for Research. Then the Pharmaceutical Corporations Patent the medical products, prescription drugs and medical devices they invent, and they make all the profit. Why are they making all the profit when the Taxpayers paid for the research? That is wrong! The Taxpayers should own a minimum of 50% of every Patent, if not more, and the money
from sales should go back into the Treasury, so that every year the Taxpayers pay fewer “new” dollars to the N.I.H. which gives them to the Pharmaceutical Coroporations. Patent laws include “work made for hire” laws which enable the persons who paid for the work to own the Patents. We must demand our Patent rights!
Next, if I am elected Governor of Vermont, I will hire anti-trust attorneys and contract fraud attorneys for any and every position the Governor can appoint people to, and I will expose every single dollar paid to every single entity under the guise of “health care”. I will have accountants add up how much is being sent out-of-state, how much is sent to health insurance companies for the purposes of medical billing and record keeping rather than actual health
care. Once I can publicly show people how much money is spent on insurance which is not the actual health care, but just insurance, and compare it to how much actual health care all that insurace money could buy instead, then we can have a vote on it. But that means going to the Legislature and asking for a law that allows a Voter Referendum. Right now in Vermont, law can not be passed by voters voting on it. Right now, in Vermont, unlike many other states, you can’t just go out with a petition and get people to sign it and get a yes or no to enact a law (like marijuana legalization) on the general election ballot. We need to show a total cost comparison: millions and millions and millions of dollars down the drain to who-knows-where or into what foreign bank account waiting for someone’s fancy vacation, or, the alternative is to set up government run, state run health clinics and hospitals in every county in the state; preferably in every public school and publicly funded college.
Why should we pay for insurance if the same amount of money would pay doctors and nurses salaries, janitor salaries, and for the purchase of buildings or leases in parts of buildings?
4. Will you support collective bargaining and vote against “Right to Work” legislation in any form?
Cris Ericson: Most people don’t understand that “right to work” in Vermont means you have to pay union dues to support the union representing you whether you like it or not.
Other states have the opposite problem. In California, for example, a “Union” movie with major stars is often made with more non-union workers than union workers because they won’t let people join the union. Hundreds and hundreds of movie extras in crowd scenes are prohibited from joining the movie extras union. The situation is the opposite of what is going on in Vermont.
“Union” means something different to everyone depending on the occupation. Lots of young men in other states would love to get into things like the electrical brothers union, but can’t find a way in.
You have to answer this one yourselves: what has happened in Vermont to make people not want to join your union?
5. What do you see as the role of State employees and how would you support them in their role?
Cris Ericsson: State employees need to read the Vermont Constitution and the United States Constitution and be willing to uphold them.
Let’s look at one clause in the Vermont Constitution: prisoners are to work for the public in view of the public. Well, they certainly can’t do that in an out-of-state private-for-profit prison; so bring them home! If I’m elected Governor, the head of the Dept. of Corrections will be an attorney highly skilled in anti-trust law and contract fraud law.
Good government is when government is of the people, by the people and for the people. Un-Elected officials and administrators have NO legal right under the U.S. Constitution to make any rules, regulations or any official demands that could end you or anyone else up in court fighting for your rights to privacy, property, your children, medical care or anything else.
Number one: I will write a Governor Executive Order that all rules, regulations, or official demands that could end anyone up in court will be automatically repealed, voided, rescinded, annulled, striken from the records because it is totally un-constitutional for someone who has not been elected to legislative office to make any rules, regulations or demands that can end you up in Court.
The State Legislature has been “cheating” on their homework, they have been writing “fill in the blank” laws and handing them over to un-elected officials to make the rules and regulations. This is un-constitutional and this brazen laziness must stop.
By keeping more dollars in state, we can afford to hire more state workers to uphold any actual laws that the state legislature might pass on their own doing.
People constantly complain that there aren’t enough nurses, teachers, etc. If we have state run health clinics and state run hospitals, which we might be able to afford if we stop paying for insurance and just pay for health care and buy medicines in bulk, then we should be able to house most of these clinics in schools, re-open schools that have been closed, and put more teachers and nurses in medical facilities housed in the school buildings. Schools are state functions, and if we can keep enough money in Vermont, rather than sending it to out-of-state private-for-profit
prisons, we can afford to have state police working undercover at every school and in every playground in Vermont.
6. What mechanisms would you put in place to avoid budget shortfalls?
Cris Ericson: First of all, I would never spend all the available money, I would always set some aside. Secondly, I would have those prisoners brought back to Vermont and have them working cutting some forests back, particularly
forested areas that otherwise might be scheduled for controlled burns, and have the state buy tracts of land and build log cabins, each cabin surrounded by a small wooded area, and bring in homeless Veterans.
There are around 50,000 homeless Veterans just in the City of Los Angeles alone, and lots in Washington, D.C. Most of them have a monthly check and VA benefits. If we brought a total of 100,000 Veterans to Vermont, and we used our prison labor force to build 100,000 log cabins, then that’s better than them being homeless, if they wanted to chose Vermont.
Remember, some don’t get along well in apartment buildings, often due to PTSD, most likely the homeless ones. A log cabin in a wooded setting would probably be just right for them.
For every Veteran we can provide a home for here in Vermont, their VA benefits go to doctors in Vermont, their monthly check goes for groceries in Vermont; and that adds up to millions of dollars a year so we can afford to give them a free cabin in the woods. The labor is free, it says so right in the Vermont Constitution: prisoners are to work for the public in view of the public.
Next, I would start the Governor’s Pardon T.V. Show and syndicate it world wide. I would invite the families of a half dozen prisoners a week to Montpelier and bring in the half dozen prisoners, and invite an audience of a couple hundred Vermonters, and go over each prisoners situation, and have the audience vote if they want to save about
$30,000. a year by letting any of them go. Depending on the audience vote, I might grant pardons. This will be a “hit” television series and we can sell this world wide. It will be heart breaking at times and hilarious at times.
Ah, then there’s marijuana. Do the state police still spend millions of dollars a year eradication marijuana? Don’t you know that’s double taxation? When we spend federal tax dollars to enforce federal marijuana laws, and we spend state tax dollars to enforce state marijuana laws, that’s double taxation. That’s wrong. I will hire some ant-trust, contract fraud and constitutional law experts for every office I can appoint people to, and write a Governor’s Executive Order repealing all state marijuana laws under wrongful double taxation.
7. What approach would you take to make higher education more affordable for Vermonters?
Cris Ericson: First of all, we can hire a bunch of state employees to scan every text book on every subject which is still valid, but for which the copyright has expired on the text book, and load them into the state computer system, and send out a notice to every Vermonter that there is a free state education library online.
We can allow people to take tests on subjects, proving they know the knowledge, at the offices of Motor Vehicle Departments where they take written drivers’ license exams. Then, on each drivers’ license we update it to show what state exams the person has passed, for example, English or Algebra or Calculus or Derivatives, or Real Estate, etc.
We can post study groups on Governor’s website: join a group online or in your neighborhood in person to study a subject, or to be a volunteer teacher.
We can start with this, and grow. We can keep all public schools open at night because some people work night shifts at various hours or have shifts taking care of their own babies with the other people they live with. Every state funded public school should be open at night with computers for people to use for free. It is cost effective to provide free computers, because then people can get an education and earn more money and pay more taxes.
8. What would you do to ensure the viability of the state college system?
Cris Ericson: #1 is to stop paying University of Vermont $44 MILLION dollars a year of Vermonters taxpayer dollars.
Have them fill out a food stamp form. Have UVM disclose all of their bank accounts, off-shore accounts and assets.
The same for Vermont Law School. The same for every non-profit entity in Vermont that receives taxpayer dollars.
Give all of the non-profits and super rich schools like UVM and Vermont Law School some equal treatment under the
law. When they send the Vermont Legislature their annual request for 44 Million dollars, return it and send them a
food stamp form.
Here again is why I would use all of my power as Governor to fill every position I can appoint someone for
with attorneys skilled in Constitutional law, contract fraud law and anti-trust law.
9. Do you support a livable wage for Vermonters? If so, what do you think that amount should be?
Cris Ericsson: Health care, Housing, Food, Water and wages have to be discussed together, not separately.
If you live in Burlington you are drinking un-tasty water, and if you could afford bottled water you’d go get some, but not everyone can afford it.
When you calculate a livable wage, does that include water?
One-third of Vermonters draw their drinking water from Lake Champlain, and simultaneoulsy, dozens and dozens of sewage treatment plants are dumping their treated sewage directly into Lake Champlain. Additional chemicals are added to treat the drinking water, chloramines and monochloramines which raise the incident risks of cancer.
So, you must ask, is there a different livable wage in Burlington, the largest city in Vermont with the most disgusting water, and the highest apartment rents, and the longest wait times to get medical appointements?
10. Briefly state why the VSEA should endorse you and describe the type of assistance that you would be seeking from a VSEA endorsement.
Cris Ericson: I don’t want any assistance from VSEA. I want you all to think about what “right to work” means to a political candidate. I have been on the official election ballot starting 2002, every two years, for Governor, and this is the very first time you have ever sent me this VSEA endorsement questionaire. Does that mean that you believe that ONLY Republicans and Democrats have a right to work as Governor of Vermont?
Please visit my website: http://www.crisericson.com
Cris Ericson
Thank you for participating
Susan
